Reality's Delusion
by Nythtak
Summary: "Gaping shamelessly at her reflection - green eyes, pink hair, pale skin - Shiina could only wonder when she'd added 'bodysnatcher' to her résumé." In which a mercenary from a desert-world wakes up in Haruno Sakura's body on the last day of the Genin Exams, having no idea of the world she has entered, and promptly fails to act like a normal pre-teen girl. OC-centric


_Warning(s): References to sex and violence, though no actual sex/violence. _

Waking up in a bed that wasn't her own, though disorienting, wasn't exactly an unfamiliar experience.

The sheets were soft enough so she knew she wasn't in some dump, which was nice. Shiina couldn't really remember what had happened last night – which was odd since she had a very high alcohol tolerance and could usually drink anyone under the table – but it was good to know she still had some modicum of taste even when she couldn't see straight. Clean, soft sheets were quite the luxury in the particular shithole she'd had the pleasure of lurking in for the past few days. Whatever rich guy – or gal – she'd tumbled into bed with must've paid a small fortune from their perspective.

The fact that Shiina was alone didn't come as too much of a surprise. If her partner was as well off as she thought then they'd hardly want to cuddle with a 'commoner'. She'd be offended if she didn't find it so funny; the way they'd get so fussy if she didn't leave right away, which led to her often making a point of insisting on breakfast if she wasn't busy. That was if they hadn't gone and gotten infatuated with her, which was always a hassle. She _did_ hate it when they got clingy. It was such an annoyance to fight off the loyal retainers sent to bring her back, especially when they were rarely very skilled.

Light was turning the insides of her eyelids red and her nose scrunched in annoyance, disturbing her pleasantly sleepy haze. Her hand was dangling off the edge of the bed so she rolled away, intent on burying her head in her pillow, only to fall off the bed with a yelp.

Her eyes snapped open and she stared with bewilderment at the ceiling, flat on her back with limbs splayed, one leg still on the bed and an arm trapped beneath her. Well, it wasn't the first time she'd had sex in a single bed, but she tended to prefer doubles – more room for manoeuvring, y'know? Plus it got a bit cramped with two (or three, or four, or-).

She sat up, and found her eyebrow rising as she examined the room. Pale pink walls, dark pink curtains, wooden flooring with a red rug, a bookshelf, a vanity with a large mirror and plenty of cosmetics on it, and a few other basic bits of furniture. She hadn't been in a room this girly since…well, let's just say she'd never looked at _Hello Kitty _the same way again and leave it at that.

Honestly it kind of looked like the room of a teenage girl, a young one at that. Which Shiina really wasn't all that comfortable with. Even drunk-her knew better than to go after kids, not that she found them particularly appealing in the first place. Paedophilia wasn't one of the things she'd be getting her ticket to Hell for, that's for sure.

Maybe the guy/gal just had weird taste? Wouldn't be the first time she'd been brought home by someone…_eccentric. _She couldn't see any whips or soft-core torture instruments, and she wasn't chained to the bed with mysterious cuts marring her skin, so that was something right? And hey, no video cameras or huge glass windows that spanned entire walls; always a good sign.

With a shrug she tried to get up. Key word; _tried. _Rather than rising gracefully to her feet she overbalanced and flopped to the floor, and was horrified when her arm barely managed to maintain her awkward one-handed push-up. Before she could begin questioning _where the hell her hard-earned muscles had fucked off to _a strand of pink hair fell into her vision. She stared at it incomprehensibly for a few seconds, then scrambled over to the vanity with limbs that refused to co-operate, resulting in her tripping several times until she reached her destination.

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Shiina wondered when she'd added 'bodysnatcher' to her résumé. The face gaping back at her had big green eyes as opposed to her own narrowed amber, and pale skin that looked like it was carefully moisturised, nothing like her own battered tan from years in the sun and the thin scar under her eye where a bounty hunter had gotten lucky. Then there was the hair; luscious long _pink _hair that framed the child's face, mussed with sleep but otherwise straight and neat – where were the jagged white-blond strands that refused to lay flat, the single intricately braided lock of hair that denoted her adulthood status in the clan? Who _was _this child?

"Sakura!" A feminine voice called, making her jolt and turn towards the door. The owner sounded like she wasn't too close, likely downstairs or something. "Are you up yet?"

Well, that answered one question at least; the girl whose body she'd accidently borrowed was named Sakura. She blinked as that name matched to this face seemed somewhat familiar, like she'd heard it somewhere before. Which was odd, since she definitely didn't know anyone with pink hair (Teruko didn't count because she knew for a fact that the avaricious woman dyed her hair that vibrant colour) so where did that memory come from?

"Sakura?"

Ah, right, the shouting woman was waiting for an answer. Shiina cleared her throat. "Y-yeah, I'm up." Dear Kami, she sounded like a pre-pubescent girl. She slammed her face into her palm with a groan. She _was _a pre-pubescent girl. Her glare levelled accusingly at the ceiling. "This is some demented form of karma, isn't it?"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" What the hell was going on here? You didn't just wake up in a body that wasn't yours, no matter _how _smashed you'd gotten the night before. She'd have heard about it if someone had this sort of power; that was why she'd gotten that infuriating spymaster on her side even though his prices were ridiculous and his obsession with her eyes kind of freaked her out.

Shiina was used to weird shit happening. She was the Shi no yōhei - and damn Eiji for spreading that cheesy yet surprisingly catchy nickname until she couldn't walk through a major city undisguised without someone yelling that name – so the strangest things had a tendency of occurring around her. A simple escort mission would turn into a hunt for a mystical jewel. Get rid of some bandits; turns out they're the master swordsman brothers whose blades are possessed by wrathful demons. Guard a wealthy noble for the duration of a ball; his ex who specialises in ripping holes in reality crashes the party. And yeah, she may have gotten a good friend out of the last one, but it was still weird!

She cupped her elbow and placed her chin on her palm in her 'thinking pose'. What was the best thing to do? She could try to get into contact with one of her alliances, but what were the chances of them hearing about this sort of thing when she herself hadn't? Wouldn't it be better to just pretend to be this Sakura girl for now and see if she could get some answers that way? Since Shiina hadn't done anything Sakura might've been the one who caused all this.

Oh _damn. _Her eyes widened in horror as she considered the fact that Sakura might be in _her _body. She shook her head. No, any sort of possession was impossible after she'd had the Atisuto clan ward her body and mind against such things, after a nasty fight with a demon who kept trying to control her body. It worked against humans too – and hadn't _that _given Kyo the headache of all headaches, the annoying bastard – so really she had no idea where Sakura's conscious had gone.

Shit, she hadn't destroyed the girl, had she? Guilt tugged painfully at her and she grimaced, hoping Sakura was alright despite the odds. She was just a kid who, judging by her body and house, really hadn't seen much hardship and definitely didn't deserve to have her existence crushed by the much stronger former-blonde.

It'd happened before; when you were trapped in a battle of illusions with a master, often the only way to win was to utterly destroy your opponent's conscious until nothing remained. It was hard since it required a terrifying use of willpower and survival instinct. A kid like Sakura wouldn't have stood a chance against her, and her blank memory wasn't making it look too good.

There was no point angsting over it though, not when there was nothing she could do about it. She'd go with the flow and see what happened. Hell, maybe this was just a really extensive illusion (_yeah, telling yourself that_, her subconscious mocked. She calmly told her subconscious to shut her – however attractive and witty - trap).

First things first; getting dressed. She took a step towards the wardrobe and stumbled, having automatically walked as if she was in her taller body with longer legs, only to find she'd overreached. A scowl formed on her face. She'd have to get used to how this body moved if she didn't want to make a fool of herself. She needed to know its limitations and weaknesses, how it could be used and maneuvered in order to maximise her chance of survival.

She sat down in the middle of the carpet, crossing her legs and resting the palms of her hands against her abdomen. Deep breath in, slow breath out. She felt her lungs filling with air as they expanded, felt the muscles that contracted and relaxed with each rhythmic movement. Acknowledgment of her surroundings faded as she concentrated on each muscle in her body, tensing and relaxing them methodically in order to get a feel for them.

This method of extreme focus on the body was one her father had spent years teaching her. She'd been terrible at it at first, unable to achieve the stillness necessary and impatiently yearning to learn her clan's fighting style. She'd hated having to sit there for hours, bored and irritated, only to hear the sounds of her brother sparring with their father. She'd felt horribly jealous, like she wasn't good enough to be taught the things her brother excelled at.

Then her father took her aside one day after spying her envious glances and explained to her the basis of Kazesutōkā (many clans seemed to be fond of butchering the language in order to come up with impressive names for their techniques; hers was no exception). It was all about control of one's body, the ability to push it to its limit without causing damage, to endure the harshest of blows and never fall, to be unyielding yet fluid; able to flow around strikes without retreating and attack without hesitation. The style was highly acrobatical, and so required her to understand her own body on a level that would be impossible to most. With her father's words in mind she'd never complained about her training again.

Now such an exercise came in handy. It allowed her to examined this body and learn it, though not to the extreme level she knew her own body. It was disappointingly weak in comparison to her own, only the bare amount of muscles suggesting to her that Sakura was more than just a civilian and had received some form of training. This wasn't completely uncommon – the world was a dangerous place after all – but since Sakura couldn't be older than twelve or thirteen the fitness of her body was higher than she would expect.

She'd just about finished with her inspection when she came across what she could only describe as pure _energy. _She jumped, initially assuming something was trying to invade her system before she realised it was _part _of her, like the blood in her veins or her nervous system. It seemed almost alive, a thin stream that flowed through her body in what she slowly distinguished as specific channels.

Fascinated, she gave it a mentally 'poke', attempting to alter the flow somehow. At her slight 'touch' the area she'd concentrated on jolted and spread away from its channel, giving her arm an odd tingling feeling as the energy lingered in her cells before dissipating. Like a child that had discovered an interesting new toy she pulled harder at the energy, only to yelp when it sent a sharp pain though her hand. Wincing she shook her hand as the burning sensation faded. Right, so pulling out too much of the weird energy hurt, got it. Staring contemplatively at the unmarred limb she wondered what it was. It didn't seem harmful unless she messed with it, and since she could control it a little it must do something, right?

Now that she was aware of it she could feel it beneath her skin, an almost itching sensation that was faint enough to not completely distract her, yet also clearly present. Eyes closed she frowned when she sensed a similar energy in the air around her. It was much less dense than the energy within her body, and she knew instinctively that she couldn't control it as she could her own.

Uneasy her eyes opened and she blinked a few times to focus her vision. Just where had she ended up?

With a faint sigh she got to her feet, carefully monitoring the movement this time. The woman downstairs was expecting Sakura to be up and ready, so she should get dressed before the woman started getting suspicious. She'd done plenty of undercover missions, picking up and discarding identities with ease; playing the part of a pre-teen girl shouldn't be too hard, right?

The journey over to the wardrobe was considerably more successful this time. Her gait was hardly smooth and she nearly lost her balance, but it was a marked improvement. She opened the wardrobe doors and peered at the clothes within, before hanging her head at the sight of several identical red dresses.

Now, Shiina admitted that she didn't mind wearing a dress when the occasion called for it. Her missions sometimes required her to dress up for formal events, and depending on the nature of the mission she might wear either a dress or an elaborate kimono, both of which she was perfectly comfortable in. However she knew from experience that it was a lot easier to fight in trousers where there were no flapping sleeves or twirling skirts to get in the way. Even if you wore shorts underneath, a dress still limited movement and flexibility, both of which were vital to her fighting style. Seeing as she was in an utterly unfamiliar situation and might be in danger at any moment, she didn't want to put herself at even more of a disadvantage.

So, no dresses for her. A hunt through the set of drawers rewarded her with a plain long-sleeved red shirt that was a couple of sizes too large, and a pair of dark grey knee-length shorts. It was…awkward to say the least, pulling off the nightdress Sakura slept in and changing clothes. Respecting the girl's privacy she closed her eyes and only touched the bare minimum amount of skin required. She wasn't a prude by any means but she didn't have any interest in doing anything with a kid's body, especially when they wouldn't even be conscious of it (not that it would be any better if she _were _conscious).

Spotting a roll of bandages in the wardrobe she wrapped them around the ends of her loose sleeves before slipping on the sandals sitting by the door. The clothes were sturdier than she'd expect of a civilian, even the dresses, so she wondered if Sakura wasn't a part of _some _sort of military. Maybe she was in training? This body was _kind of_ developed, much fitter than most civilians even if it was nowhere near what she was used to. Hopefully she wouldn't have to fight anyone with a substantial amount of skill, since this body just plain wouldn't be able to keep up with her.

Shiina had just taken a step towards the door when it opened. A blond woman with dark green eyes stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and a frown pulling at her lips. She seemed to be middle-aged judging by the subtle wrinkles on her forehead and at the corners of her eyes, and she had prominent laugh lines around her mouth. The white qipao she wore gave her a semblance of nobility, whilst the pink trousers and wooden sandals spoke of practicality; all in all she had the image of a well-off middle-class woman who though she had worked – her palms were not the dainty smooth hands of the rich – was far from the weary starvation of many commoners.

"You were taking so long I thought you'd gone back to sleep!" the woman exclaimed. Then her eyes narrowed as she examined the accidental body-snatcher's choice of clothing. "Aren't you going to wear your nice dresses after the fuss you made insisting we buy matching ones? I don't know where you got the notion that you have to wear the same thing every day – isn't it better to have some variety? – but I suppose this is another 'shinobi thing' I'll never understand." She shook her head fondly.

Recovering somewhat from the impromptu rant, Shiina made the realisation that this was probably Sakura's mother; she'd seen women in the street acting in the same fondly exasperated manner. She blinked a few times and wiped the dumbfounded look from her face.

"Ah," she scratched the back of her neck as she searched for a reply, glancing off awkwardly to the side. How would Sakura react to this? Teenagers liked whining and rebellion and stuff like that, right? "You can't tell me what to do!" she proclaimed with false – but believable – bluster, crossing her arms and giving a huff.

Sakura's mother gave her a weird look – Shiina held her breath – before smiling and muttering something about 'hormones'. Shiina nearly blanched at the reminder of the fact she'd be going through puberty _again _if she didn't get her old body back. The growing pains, the hectic emotions, the gah-why-are-the-lumps-on-my-chest-getting-_bigger?_

"Well, come down to breakfast when you're ready. You don't want to be late to the last bit of the Genin Exam, do you?"

'Genin Exam?' Shiina mouthed to the blonde's retreating back. What the hell was a _genin?_

**. . .**

_Got inspired by all the OC-wakes-up-as-Sakura-on-team-assignment-day and decided to give it a go. With my own twist, of course. _

_Shiina is a lot…nicer than the vast majority of OCs I usually write. She's a genuinely good person with morals and isn't completely unstable and all that fun stuff, even if she is a bit of a pervert (weeelll, maybe not a pervert per se, but she's rather…blunt about that sort of thing). It's kind of weird writing such a different character who actually gives a damn about people, though she is a bit rough around the edges. This will be more light-hearted than my other stories due to this._

_Shiina comes from a desert-world completely separate from both our reality and the Naruto-verse, where there are several weird things I've mentioned already; demons, possessions, illusions, super-human feats, ghosts, ets. It'll be fun to expand more on that world, even if this story is focussed on the Naruto-verse. _

_Shi no yōhei means 'Mercenary of Death', or 'Death's Mercenary'. She got this nickname because, well, she's a mercenary, and a damn good one. And Eiji (an OC) is a cheesy guy, so of course he'd come up with something like that for his best friend. _

_Atisuto means 'artist', I think. They're a clan that specialises in wards, which is kind of like fuinjutsu except it focuses on the two schools of 'binding' (used primarily on demons, e.g. the demon swords used by the 'bandit' brothers) and 'expelling' (used to get rid of low-level ghosts, protect minds form outside influence). And I literally just made this up…and it really isn't that necessary…eh._

_Kazesutōkā means 'wind stalker' because Shiina's clan is so arrogant they could give the Uchiha a run for their money. (Yes, I know the translation is probably fail, but in Shiina's world people are fond of doing that; sticking two words together because they sound cool. Yes, this is my justification; hey, I did make up the world she came from, I can do whatever). These guys are a 'combat-clan' that offer their services to the highest bidder. Or, they used to._

_This is pretty fun to write, and I'd love to know what you guys think of both the plot and Shiina. Oh, and I don't own _Naruto_. Shiina, any other OCs and the world Shiina came from are all mine though._

_I know the title is stupid, but for some reason I just can't think of one. Whilst I was writing I've just been calling the story 'V', so any suggestions would be welcome._

_Please leave a review!_


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